You may think that growing vegetables should use soil media and have a large area of land. However, in this modern era, there is one way that can be used, namely growing vegetables using water media or what is commonly called hydroponic plants.
Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic plants are planting systems that use water as a growing medium or without using soil. To produce plants that grow well, you can use a water medium that contains good nutrients.
In addition, when viewed from the current conditions when many people live independently with limited space, hydroponic plants are their best choice to be able to produce their own vegetables. Then if you grow your own vegetables at home, of course, it will also produce healthy vegetables because chemical fertilizers or pesticides can be controlled by yourself.
Benefits of Hydroponic Plants
Hydroponic plants have several benefits as well as advantages that can be felt directly by those of you who use this method. Some of the benefits of hydroponic plants are that vegetable yields can be more sterile and clean because plants cultivated with hydroponic techniques will not be easily attacked by pests and diseases.
Advantages of Plants with Hydroponic Techniques
Furthermore, hydroponic plants also have the following advantages.
- It has little risk of damage because it is not affected by climate change weather.
- Hydroponic plants are plants that will have more yields, and because they do not use pesticides, the plants will be crispier and fresher when consumed
- There is no need for a large area of land because it only requires space or makeshift land.
- Plant care is easier to do and not dirty.
- Embroidery or countermeasures of dead plants will be easier to do.
- The quality and quantity of the resulting crop will be higher.
- Have a higher selling price.
Disadvantages of Plants with Hydroponic Techniques
Although it seems easy to do, planting with hydroponic techniques has some drawbacks that also need to be considered.
- Requires more capital than usual if you want to plant in large quantities.
- Not all planting media are available, some are even fairly rare. So that some of the planting media needed needs to be purchased by import.
- Some important parts require extra care. This is because, jenis hydroponic plants need to pay attention to their nutrition as well as the right pH acidity.
Types of Hydroponic Plants
For those of you who are new to the technique of growing with hydroponics, you may be confused about what plants can be cultivated. The following are the types of hydroponic plants that can be easily cultivated at home with limited land.
- Tomato
Tomatoes are one of the plants that are suitable for planting using hydroponic techniques. You can use seeds when going to plant tomatoes. Do not forget also to pay attention to its care by regularly watering, doing embroidery, providing nutrition, as well as other care.
- Sealed
Lettuce is a type of hydroponic plant that has a fairly short lifespan so that it quickly harvests. Of the different types of lettuce, green leaf lettuce and red leaf are the most frequently cultivated using hydroponic systems.
- Water spinach
Kale is a type of home hydroponic plant that is quite easy to cultivate. Besides being able to be harvested in a fairly short time, namely four weeks, kale can easily grow well if given enough nutrients.
- Pakcoy
Pakcoy contains many minerals and vitamins that are healthy when processed into various types of food. By cultivating it using a hydroponic system, it usually only takes a month until the pokcoy is large enough and ready to be harvested immediately.
- Celery
Celery is one of the suitable types of vegetables and is quite easy to grow with different types of growing systems. Having various benefits as well as a distinctive aroma, celery can be your choice to cultivate it with a hydroponic system.
- Watermelon
Watermelon is a fruit rich in water and is not difficult to grow using a hydroponic system. This type of hydroponic plant can be cultivated by selecting the right seedlings, seeding, planting, and maintaining until harvest time comes.
- Melon
Melons have the same cultivation process as watermelons. By carrying out the proper stages of care, the cultivation of melons with a hydroponic system will produce healthy and fresh fruits.
How to Grow Hydroponic Plants
There are 6 ways to grow hydroponic plants that you can practice at home.
- Wick System
For beginners, the wick system can be the best choice. This is because the wick system does not have moving parts and is passive. In addition, nutrients from inside the container will also directly flow into the growth medium.
- Water Culture
How to grow hydroponic plants with a water culture system is one of the simple ones. This system has a container made of styrofoam that floats with nutrients whose function is to support plants. In addition, there is also an air pump that functions to pump air that forms bubbles into the air stone. Then, the bubbles will be useful as an oxygen supply on the roots of plants.
- EBB dan Flow System
EBB and flow system are ways of growing hydroponic plants that are the same as tides. The growing medium uses nutrients such as cocopeat, rockwool, and others. In addition, this system requires 2 containers, with the first container as a water reservoir and the second container as a buffer for plant roots and requires electrical energy from the water pump for the tidal system.
- NFT (Nutrient Film Technique)
NFTs are arguably the most popular way of growing hydroponic plants . This system will flow nutrient-containing water continuously into the gully, and this process will be constantly repeated.
- Drip System (Tetes)
The drip system has a simple operation that only needs to use the pump controller timer. This pump will drip nutrients onto the plants.
- Aeroponic
Aeroponic is a way to grow hydroponic plants with sophisticated methods and can provide fast and best results. The nutrient solution with this system will be shaped like a mist that is sprayed directly on the roots so that nutrients are more easily absorbed.
Plant Growth Factor Hydroponic Systems
There are several factors that determine the final growth result of hydroponic plants. Some of them are pure water, air temperature, planting media, and also humidity. These factors must be considered so that plant yields are optimal.
Paying attention to growth factors will also maximize the benefits of the hydroponic plants that will be produced. So that the plant has good quality and high selling price.